Thaindian News

New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Tuesday issued notice to the Delhi government on the plea of a company challenging its decision to disqualify it from the bidding process for implementing a scheme to fix high security registration plates on all vehicles in the city, a lawyer said.

The division bench of Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice Rajiv Shakdher asked the government to file its response within 10 days and fixed the matter for May 1.

Refusing to stay the contract awarded to firm Rosmerta Technology Ltd, the court said that the decision of the government would be subject to the outcome of this petition.

Advocate Sunil Fernandes, appearing for petitioner Real Mazon India Ltd, said that he told the court that the transport department had wrongly disqualified it.

Alleging that the decision of the government was “arbitrary, unreasonable, discriminatory and non-speaking”, the company said that its rival firm Rosmerta Technology Ltd was not disqualified from the biding process despite having submitted faulty financial forms.

Challenging the government’s decision, the company alleged that other co-bidders which were not disqualified “for oblique/covert motives and such a decision of the government … is in gross violation of public interest”.

“The petitioner is aggrieved by the arbitrary, unreasonable, discriminatory and non-speaking decision of the transport department, Delhi, in disqualifying the petitioner company at the stage of technical evaluation of its bid and non-opening of its financial bid, in the tender issued for implementation of the scheme in Delhi,” the petition said.

The government told the court that Rosmerta Technology Ltd was awarded the contract last month to as its bid was the lowest.

It was submitted that the successful bidder had agreed to make a high security vehicle number plate for Rs.119 whereas the petitioner company had offered to make the number plate for Rs.135.

The scheme project was made mandatory in all states and union territories of the country, while states like Meghalaya, Sikkim and Goa have already implemented the project, Delhi along with Punjab and Uttar Pradesh had not any taken.